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www.ntnews.com.au Wednesday, August 21, 2013. NT NEWS. 45

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Districtshope tofill spotsTWO-TIME NTFL premiersSouthern Districts will voteon their future direction to-morrow night.

The club’s second annualgeneral meeting in a monthaims to fill vacant roles inthe presidency, vice-presidency, treasurer andsecretary positions — some-thing that was not done atthe first meeting.

Crocs coach ShannonRusca expects a number ofpeople to nominate forthe roles the secondtime around.

‘‘I know the positions willbe filled this time,’’ he said.‘‘The club will be in goodhands now and into thefuture, there is absolutelyno doubt about that.’’

The agenda of the meetingincludes voting in constitut-ional changes and electing afull new committee.

Rusca said sorting out theadministrative changes wasthe last piece in the jigsawin preparation for the2013-14 NTFL season.

‘‘Our focus had nevershifted from the trainingtrack and getting ready forthe first Premier Leaguegame against Nightcliff,’’ hesaid. ‘‘Our playing depth isterrific with several goodkids coming through thestrong junior ranks.’’

Several club stalwartswho contacted the NT News

last night are hoping a long-term Districts person takesover as club president.

Official seniors pre-season training began onAugust 7 and is continuingon Tuesday and Thursdaynights at Norbuilt Oval,behind Freds Pass cricketground.

—GREYMORRIS

Pies ad $20kblack markCOLLINGWOOD FootballClub has paid a $20,000 fineafter the Australian Compe-tition and Consumer Com-mission accused it of mis-leading advertising.

The consumer watchdogissued two infringementnotices over an ad where theclub claimed a three gamemembership and guernseywould cost ‘‘only $20’’.

But the ACCC said thereal price was $120 over sixmonths and the ad — whichwas emailed to 90,000 sup-porters and appeared in theHerald Sun in May — failedto display the total mini-mum price.

The club paid $20,400for the two infringementnotices the ACCC issued.

ACCC Chairman RodSims said while the ad re-ferred to a payment plan infine print it did not state thefull price.

‘‘Consumers should knowthe real price of goods andservices so that they areable to make informed pur-chasing decisions,’’ he said.

A Collingwood spokes-man said that the club‘‘acknowledged fault butwithout intent’’ and alsopromised the ACCC to edu-cate staff about the ruleson advertising.

Question of substanceAUSTRALIANRULES

A MEMBER of the AFL’sAnti-Doping Tribunal saysASADA had told him that theAOD-9604 anti-obesity drug,central to the supplementssaga at Essendon, was not abanned substance.

The Bombers are under in-vestigation from ASADA re-garding their use of supple-ments in 2012 and skipperJobe Watson has admitted ina television interview he took

what he believed to be AOD-9604, but he felt he hadn’t bro-ken any anti-doping rules.

Sports medicine specialistAndrew Garnham said yes-terday he had asked ASADAin February this year aboutthe status of AOD-9604 in hiscapacity as a member of theAFL’s Anti-Doping Tribunal.

‘‘I was inquiring, so therewas some clarification as towhere the matter might beheading,’’ Garnham told FoxFooty’s AFL 360 program.

‘‘The advice that I had atthat time was that AOD-9604was considered under sectionS2 of the anti-doping code andwas regarded as not pro-hibited. I’m aware that otherpeople within the AFL hadbeen in contact with ASADA.

‘‘I’m not sure exactly whattime period.’’

Asked if AOD-9604 was aprohibited substance accord-ing to ASADA when he in-quired in February 2013,Garnham said: ‘‘At that point

in time, no. There was somediscussion with people in theAFL and also at that stageI’d been in contact withmembers of the EssendonFootball Club.’’

Essendon confirmed theywere seeking a delay to theAFL Commission hearingdue for Monday.

The AFL and Essendonhave been in negotiationsover the hearing.

Senior coach James Hird,club doctor Bruce Reid, as-

sistant coach Mark Thomp-son and Bombers footballmanager Danny Corcoranwill have their hearings de-layed beyond next Monday.

Garnham said he had as-ked ASADA to clear upwhether AOD-9604 was a ban-ned substance under SectionS0 of the WADA code.

‘‘The advice was it hadbeen considered under S2 (asnot prohibited) and thereforeeffectively S0 did not comeinto play,’’ he said.

Experienced stars and young guns key for ThunderBy GREY MORRIS

SKIPPER Cameron Ilett saysselective recruiting anddevelopment of youngplayers are priorities ifThunder wants to play finalsfootball next year.

Ilett and his teammateshave a rare September offthis year to contemplate.

A lowly seventh-place fin-ish — Thunder’s worst end toa NEAFL campaign — was abitter pill to swallow.

But the dual club best and

fairest, Syd Guilford Trophywinner and NEAFL best andfairest can see some light atthe end of the tunnel.

‘‘I’m disappointed in thefact our potential was a lotgreater than our end result,’’Ilett said. ‘‘But there is a lot ofgood in the way we developedyoung players who will bebetter for the experience likeBaydon Ngalkin, NakiaCockatoo, Neil Vea Vea andthe Riolis (Ben and Shannon)are starting to come intotheir own.

‘‘Jack Musgrove and DeanStaunton are others with bigfutures at the club.’’

Ilett said the fine linebetween developing playersand remaining competitivewas always going to be atough assignment.

‘‘But look, we’ve developeda lot of players and that’sbeen one of the club’s objec-tives,’’ he said. ‘‘I also believeif we have our best team outon the park every week andthey apply themselves, any-thing is possible.’’

The loss of key backmenJason Roe, Shaun Tapp,Shannon Rusca, WillieKossack, Kieren Smith andDamien Williams left a holeThunder was never ableto fill.

‘‘Justin Buegelaar is only ayoung bloke and he had a fan-tastic season down back, buthe had some injuries alongthe way, including ankle andknee problems,’’ Ilett said.

‘‘Selective recruiting, find-ing some talls for the backhalf and hopefully players

from the NTFL comingthrough the grades will bepriorities for us.’’

Ilett will be back in a Thun-der jumper next season.

‘‘I’m super keen to goaround with the club nextyear,’’ he said. ‘‘It’s a qualityprogram that is producingsome really good things forthe Territory on and off thefield, and I still want to be apart of it.

‘‘We need to learn from thisyear, and hopefully come backbetter and stronger in 2014.’’

Aaron Davey (centre) with brothers Russell (right) and Alwyn, wearing Palmerston club jumpers in 2007 Picture: MICHAEL MARSCHALL

Tribute to proud Demon who gave rivals hell of a timeBy BRUCE MATTHEWS

MELBOURNE caretakercoach Neil Craig recalled theconcern generated by livelyforward Aaron Davey in pre-game planning.

As Adelaide coach, Craigwould assign one of his bestdefenders — Davey’s fellowTerritorian Andrew McLeod— to the task against the dan-gerous Demon.

‘‘Probably the greatest re-

spect I can give Aaron is thatAndrew always used to standhim,’’ Craig said.

‘‘There was a reason forthat, it’s called talent on tal-ent. I used to enjoy watchingthose guys go head to head.’’

Craig will be in chargewhen Davey plays againstAdelaide at AAMI Stadiumon Saturday before a homegame against the Bulldogs atEtihad Stadium on Sundayweek drops the curtain on a

grand career of 178 AFL ga-mes and 10 years with the De-mons. While Melbourne havestarted talks to offer Davey amentoring role next season,he hasn’t ruled out trying toextend his career at anotherAFL club.

‘‘The mind and body is tell-ing me no. But I’ll sit downand weigh up all the options.I can’t put a finger on what Iwant to do,’’ he said.

Davey said he wanted ‘‘to

clear my head’’ and discusshis future with his family.

He described the offer fornext year as ‘‘a massive showof respect’’.

‘‘I don’t think we can poss-ibly get any lower, but I havea great feel that this club isgoing to be where it deservesto be and that’s back up top.

‘‘We’ve got the right peoplein place, starting from PeterJackson (chief executive)down to all my teammates.’’

Davey paid tribute to for-mer Melbourne coach NealeDaniher, now West Coast’sfootball operations head, forgiving him his AFL start offthe rookie list in 2004.

‘‘Until you’re in this pos-ition, you never realise theopportunity I’ve been givenby the Melbourne footballclub. To come from Darwinand to know I’ve got brothersall over Australia is some-thing I’ll always remember.’’